November 6, 2013
Education Week, Vol. 33, Issue 11
Families & the Community
Grooming Parents to Take the Lead
A program in Kentucky recruits and trains parents committed to leading projects in their schools and communities, equipping them with the tools they'll need to help boost student achievement. The Governor's Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership wrapped up the last of its six-day training camps in November, in Louisville. The next step is for the fired-up trainees to take their newly minted skills back to their home schools--and, in the words of one local official, "go viral" with what they've learned.
School & District Management
'Effective Teaching' Study Seen as Influential, and Faulty
The Gates-supported research has sparked criticism about how the project was framed, how findings were communicated, and whether states are taking away appropriate lessons from it.
Federal
Ed. Department, Gates Plans for Teachers Converge
Observers see considerable alignment between the teacher-quality agendas of the private foundation and the federal agency. In fact, several top department officials came from the philanthropy.
Education Funding
Gates Foundation Places Big Bet on Teacher Agenda
Since 2008, the philanthropy has spent about $700 million on a variety of teacher-quality initiatives. Critics fear that the Seattle-based foundation is having an outsized influence.
Teaching Profession
Follow the Money: Gates Giving for Its Teacher Agenda
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose priorities include global health and U.S. education, has made initiatives focused on teacher quality a key dimension of its recent grantmaking strategy.
Professional Development
Teacher 'Voice' Amplified by Series of Gates Grants
The foundation has put $22 million behind several organizations that aim to elevate teachers' voices in policy discussions, but those groups have often been viewed with suspicion by teachers' unions.
Student Well-Being
Schools Still See Surges in Homeless Students
A new report finds that 40 states saw increases in the number of homeless students in the 2011-12 school year—some by 20 percent or more.
School & District Management
Homeless Students: A Statistical Profile
The number of homeless students enrolled in the nation's school has continued to rise during the last three school years, according to new data from the National Center for Homeless Education
Education
News in Brief
Transitions
Michael J. Petrilli will take the helms of both the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Fordham Foundation beginning next August. He replaces longtime president and founder Chester E. Finn Jr., who will become the president emeritus and a distinguished senior fellow.
Classroom Technology
News in Brief
Mobile Devices Grabbing Fancy of Young Children
More than one-third of children younger than 2 have now used a mobile device to watch a video, play a game, or use an app.
Student Well-Being
News in Brief
Senate Panel Approves Epinephrine Legislation
A bill approved by the U.S. Senate education committee last week would give states an extra incentive to help treat students with anaphylaxis or severe allergic reactions.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Team Approach Urged to Help Students Who Suffer Concussions
After sustaining a concussion, a student-athlete may need to be eased back into his or her normal academic routine, suggests a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Students Get Fitness Devices To Gauge, Promote Activity
Nearly 7,000 5th graders in 15 school districts in Snohomish County, Wash., will be getting watch-sized electronic devices to measure their activity levels throughout the school year.
Assessment
News in Brief
Michigan Mulls Scrapping Color-Coded Accountability
Michigan's color-coded school accountability system could be up for an overhaul just two months after its debut.
Federal
News in Brief
Ed. Dept. Threatens Funding For California Over Testing
California could lose at least $15 million in federal Title I funds in its clash with the U.S. Department of Education over testing requirements, according to a letter sent last week to state education officials.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Colo. Tax-Increase Measure Gets Big-Name Backing
In the final week before voters decide on Amendment 66, the campaign supporting the education tax increase received $2 million in donations from Melinda Gates and a charity run by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
School Climate & Safety
Report Roundup
Report Tallies Up Inequities in School Discipline Policies
A new analysis finds that school policies continue to make it harder for black, Hispanic, and American Indian students to stay in class in the first place.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teacher Education
In a new book-length analysis, the National Academy of Education finds that current systems to evaluate teacher preparation programs typically use proxy indicators that do little to inform programs on how to better prepare teachers.
Early Childhood
Report Roundup
Gifted Students
Children who are academically and developmentally ready to enter kindergarten but don't meet state age requirements cannot get waivers into public school systems in 18 states despite their abilities, according to a study due to be released this week by the National Association of Gifted Children.
School Choice & Charters
Report Roundup
Research Report: Charter Schools
Those who are most likely to benefit from charter schools are the least likely to be enrolled in them, according to a new study.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teacher Pipeline
New teachers and teacher applicants have significantly higher SAT scores than they did a few decades ago, says a paper published last week in the online edition of Education Next.
Education
News in Brief
Minnesota, Test-Maker Decide to Part Company
Minnesota and its main student-testing contractor are parting ways after a rocky run.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Schools to Reap $61 Million by Selling Buildings in Phila.
Mayor Michael Nutter agreed last week to a Philadelphia school funding plan that hinges on selling millions of dollars worth of empty school buildings.
Assessment
News in Brief
New York to Scale Back Standardized Tests
State education Commissioner John R. King told superintendents last week in a letter that some standardized tests in New York public schools will be eliminated.
Standards
States Seek to Calm Districts' Common-Core Jitters
Officials in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Michigan aim to reassure school districts that common core won't hurt local control, but some are skeptical.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Detroit Taxpayers Foot Big Bill for Closed Schools
Detroit property owners face a quarter century of payments for construction and renovation of school buildings that no longer operate.
Ed-Tech Policy
News in Brief
Company Offers New Tablets to North Carolina Schools
Amplify has offered to replace more than 15,000 tablets for Guilford County, N.C., schools with new devices.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Most Getting Wis. Vouchers Come From Private Schools
Nearly 80 percent of students who received a taxpayer-subsidized voucher to attend private school this year did not attend a Wisconsin public school last year, according to the state education department.